•Mechanical model for the peeling behavior of a film with finite length perfectly bonded to an elastic substrate has been proposed.•The effects of root rotation, ratio between Young’s moduli of the film and the substrate, and film’s aspect ratio on peeling behavior have been demonstrated.•Empirical expression for estimating peeling force in relation to those parameters has been established. A mechanical model for the peeling behavior of a film with finite length perfectly bonded to an elastic substrate has been proposed. The film has been considered as an elastic beam from which the root rotation at the boundary between the debonded and bonded portions can be obtained. Numerical results have demonstrated significant effects of the parameters including root rotation, ratio between Young’s moduli of the film and the substrate, and film’s aspect ratio on the stress intensity factors that were used to measure the interfacial tractions. Based on the numerical results, empirical expressions for the stress intensity factors have been presented. And hence expression for estimating peeling force in relation to those parameters has been established. The results in the present paper may be helpful for characterizing the peeling behavior of film-substrate systems.